fixing acrylic letters behind glass

[David Glen]

Laminate the front of the letters with clear double-sided adhesive sheet?

In my experience, black behind glass is not going to show up too well from any distance.

[Glenn Sharp]

I saw a job like this in France last year …..10mm black acrylic lettering stuck on to the inside of a shop window……..It looked very effective because they had got the lighting just right aswell

I could only assume it was as David said….a totally clear double sided adhesive sheet……but it was perfect….not a hint of any adhesive marks at all

[Neil Churchman]

I’ve never used the clear adhesive sheets before and was wondering if you can apply the adhesive with water, so that when it dries out there is a ‘floorless finish’ and no adhesive or air pockets showing in the adhesive.

thanks for your input 🙂

[Ian Johnston]

to stick acrylic to glass without a glue mark you need to use uv glues, flooded on the glass , not simple on a vertical piece of glass.

Ian

[Neil Churchman]

Thanks for your help Ian – any idea where we can source this type of UV glue and if it needs to be cured with UV light ? 🙂

[Robert Lambie]

try "double quick supplies" also known as DQS. they have franchises all over the UK and supply the window trade.
I forget the name of it (i have a bottle in my store) 🙄
its use for gluing crystal bevels to glass panels etc… as ian has said you will need a uv light to cure it and doing this in an upright position isnt the easiest.
very little of the adhesive is needed but you must flood the liquid to the edge of the letter. gettle pressure here and there will eliminate any small bubbles. havin someone inside holding some form of UV hand held lamp. once you have it in position, give them the knod to turn it on and hold very still… it will cure in 3 seconds but go off in about 15 seconds when it reaches a good bond. you dont need to hold after that but progress with the UV lamp for a further minute to be sure. from here, wipe around the letter as the adhesive will still be in liquid form. once wiped you "may" need to run a stanely blade around the letter to eliminate any hard adhesive. that said, this isnt glass bevels your applying like i would so you should be fine with a good clean using meths…
personally ide make a template up and hold each letter till cured and work my way along. just remember. once the UV light goes on… There is no going back… squint, spelt wrong or whatever, its stuck!

thinking on that. ide maybe contact some 3M reps and ask if they have a clear double sided adhesive tape that would do the job just as good?

[Peter Munday]

Can I just ask, what happens when you need to remove the letters? 😮 😮

Peter

[Ian Johnston]

quote Peter Munday:

Can I just ask, what happens when you need to remove the letters? 😮 😮

Peter

you dont :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

Ian

[Neil Churchman]

Thanks Robert for explaining how the UV fixing method works – sounds great, but time is short on this job though so I think I’ll play safe and try out the clear double sided tape, which I think you can get from Technibond.

thanks for everyone’s input

Neil 😀

[Nick Minall]

Try some clear RTV silicone, will scrap off the window when dry if you get to much on it and you will be able to remove the letters later, be worth a test any way.

Nick.

[Hugh Potter]

quote Nick Minall:

Try some clear RTV silicone, will scrap off the window when dry if you get to much on it and you will be able to remove the letters later, be worth a test any way.

Nick.

clear silicone will usually finish as a milky / opaque finish, in my experience anyways !

[David Rogers]

Chloroform would have be my weapon of choice. Glass syringe, metal ‘needle’ and when holding the latter against the glass flood it in from the edges. Capillary action should pull it in for a flawless finish. It also has the advantage that any overspill just evaporates as it’s only reacting / melting the acrylic that’s it’s in prolonged contact with.

Downside is the COSHH & HSE stuff and an almost impossible removal job.

Just thinking out loud, and I could be wildly wrong, but would a ‘liquid laminate’ fluid like frog juice work. It’s designed to bond with plastics & obviously dries clear.
…or even using clear acrylic laquer applied to the letters and then taped in place for half an hour to stop them moving…ie. trip to Halfords for a tin of clear coat. Any excess / slippage removed once they are set.

[Neil Churchman]

Thanks for the ideas guys………

We tested out the silicon rubber over the weekend and it dries translucent rather than clear so that’s a no go really.

The chloroform idea probably not going to be good from the Health and Safety implications within an enclosed shop and also the future removability aspect.

Tried out the clear lacquer this morning – partly successful and needs more testing.

I was wondering if there is any kind of gelatin product, preferably water-based, that may be strong enough for this job 🙄

[David Rogers]

Why not use BLACK glue / RTV silicone sealant?

[Fred McLean]

Try small pads of 3M VHB Clear tape 😛

[Neil Churchman]

I need to go off and test various fixing methods with clear (rather than translucent) glazing glue, and the black glue idea.

The biggest issue is whatever glue is used, there will be a lot of messy
cleaning up to do around each letter, as the whole face needs to be covered
in order to achieve a consistent finish.

Ideally the glue would be water-based to enable easier on-site cleaning up as you install each letter.

thanks for the the ideas

cheers

Neil 🙂

[Ian Johnston]

a cheap and handy option, customer will never notice once it’s done,

use 3mm black vinyl onto the glass ( i say 3m as we covered a glass shopfront the other day and out of all the vinyls 3m was the best to give a shine without glue markings. ) then use a small bead of silcone to mount the perspex to the back of the vinyl, the gloss black vinyl will hide the silcone but the effect of the 5mm letters will still be visiable.

just make sure the customer insn’t there when you do it and i’ll bet he’ll never know tot the difference
Ian :lol1:

[Glenn Sharp]

Sounds a good idea Ian…you would have to perfectly mimic the route path on the letters though but I could see that working

I would sell them on the idea that the letters could be easily removed if needs be

[Glenn Sharp]

just another thought…if you did go down the route of applying vinyl letters first…. there is a whole range of double sided adhesives in sheet form that would be a lot less messy than silicones or glues

[Ian Johnston]

if the letters a cnc cut it should be any different

Ian

[Glenn Sharp]

It’s just with the diameter of the router bit Ian…it will leave a small curve on the pointy bit of an ‘N’ for example where the bit can’t get right into the point…if that makes sense….Not a massive problem to get round but I just thought it was worth mentioning 🙂

[Neil Churchman]

great idea guys 🙂

If I can’t find a suitable clear double sided tape/silicon glue in time, then I think that will be they best around doing the job.

The cut out acrylic letters have been sent direct to site from the clients head office in Europe, so we’ll have to hand cut the black vinyl on site as the job is 200 miles away from our studio, and water apply black vinyl to the glass, before sticking the letters on the back with regular fixing tape.

thanks for your help

Neil 🙂